Has anyone moved to Austin and regretted it? If so, why? (Orange: renting, mortgage)

[Florinator]

One of the things that surprise me around here is when people complain about the high property taxes... I recently moved from the Bay Area, CA, my wife and I bought a townhome in 2008 and our property tax bill for 2009 was $7,250. And this is for an "affordable" (by California standards) townhome close to San Jose downtown, 300 ft from the train tracks, in the middle of what used to be industrial district and as businesses close down it's being rezoned for residential use. There is a huge empty warehouse across the street and the city still hasn't built the neighborhood park that the developer already paid for and was advertised since 2007. And let's not forget that California also has income tax of about 8-9%. And on top of that, if we had stayed in that place, we probably would have had to put our kids into private schools.

So I really can't understand how a $4,400 property tax bill is super-high... I can only dream of such numbers. Not to mention that you would get twice the house here compared to CA.

For us, it's only been 3 months, so probably it's too early to draw conclusions, but so far, we've found what we were looking for when we decided to move. A higher quality of life for a lower cost of living!

I also was shocked to read in one of the previous comments that Austin is a horrible place to raise a family. Really? Well, try San Jose then... (the capital of Silicon Valley!!!) One of the reasons we moved here was because we have two small children and we find the schools in the area better and overall the lifestyle here is more family-friendly, in my humble opinion.

My wife has made a bunch of friends through Facebook since we moved and I can't believe we're actually having a more active social life here (after 3 months), than we had over there (after many years).

She now stays home and entertains the kids every day. And, surprise, surprise, we seem to be able to afford this pretty well! Her friends back in Cali are red with envy because "your husband lets you stay home"... not that I would ever tell her what to do... And having 3-course dinners cooked a few times a week is a nice bonus too :-)

For us, considering all these factors plus availability of jobs in my industry (IT), it looks like we hit jackpot with Austin. Only time will tell if this was a good move, but so far, the signs are good.

[rickc007]

Originally Posted by Florinator

One of the things that surprise me around here is when people complain about the high property taxes... I recently moved from the Bay Area, CA, my wife and I bought a townhome in 2008 and our property tax bill for 2009 was $7,250. And this is for an "affordable" (by California standards)

This ^

People always overlook that, only look at the percentage number

AND forget about the STATE Tax
Cali is high

Similar setup in California, with my current house, taxes would be about $15,000, property and state

Here I paid about $4800 property, NO STATE

that's a lot of extra spending cash
Thanks Texas :-)

[Florinator]

Originally Posted by rickc007

that's a lot of extra spending cash
Thanks Texas :-)

Exactly! Now, where can I find some 9mm Glock's to spend that extra cash?

[rickc007]

Originally Posted by Florinator

Exactly! Now, where can I find some 9mm Glock's to spend that extra cash?

Yes :-)

You're are allowed to carry a gun here, and ride a motorcycle without a helmet ....

Welcome to America

[talkispoison]

I hated living in Austin. I moved there from Dallas and always made several trips a year down to visit before I moved.
The city itself is just so much smaller and Dallas had so much more to offer, even in music. The traffic is EXTREMELY annoying. The public transit was a joke. The entire city is over rated.

[Florinator]

Originally Posted by rickc007

Similar setup in California, with my current house, taxes would be about $15,000, property and state

After my team moved from Europe to Cali about 8 years ago, my boss saw a check on the VP's desk for $15,500 and asked him what that was for. He said: that's my property tax... We were speechless. At the time most of us were renting apartments for around $1,100 a month and we could not fathom how one could pay more in property taxes alone, than we paid rent for an entire year. Yes, of course his house was super-nice in an expensive neighborhood, but that amount doesn't even include his mortgage/costs/upkeep.

Over the years I realized I would never be able to get anywhere close to that... so we moved here

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Florinator

Exactly! Now, where can I find some 9mm Glock's to spend that extra cash?

Originally Posted by rickc007

Yes :-)

You're are allowed to carry a gun here, and ride a motorcycle without a helmet ....

Welcome to America

That would be GT Distributors. Fantastic 'tactical' showroom and lots of LEO-oriented goodies. A generous supply of LE trade-ins, primarily of the Glockish variety. Unless you are LE, military, or a first responder type person, you cannot buy a NEW Glock at GT(one exception for GSSF members); BUT you may purchase a trade-in OR many other firearms.
GT Distributors - America's Law Enforcement supply specialist

As big boxes go, Academy has a decent selection of handguns at reasonable prices. Plenty of independent gun shops around town as well. Red's has two locations if you need an indoor range to try out some weaponry.

Yes, you may ride your motorcycle without a helmet BUT with a motorcycle license.

Yes, you may carry your handgun to/in your vehicle; but if you are going to wear said handgun, you'll need a Concealed Handgun License.

[10scoachrick]

And by the bye, OUR property taxes went up a bit more than $7000/yr for ~$100K more house value AND with the economy in the tank since we moved here in '08, we haven't been able to 'offset' our property taxes with a comparable reduction in income tax(state, of course). We'll feel better as things improve; but, in the meantime, we are 'enjoying' not having to pay ~$900/yr in vehicle ad valorem taxes('tag' fee in Georgia). Also saving a few hundred dollars a year on auto and home owner's insurance even though we have a more expensive house and more expensive vehicles. Of course, that savings goes toward the A/C bill and water for the lawn/trees. Dang, maybe there isn't a free lunch, after all!

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

That would be GT Distributors. Fantastic 'tactical' showroom and lots of LEO-oriented goodies. A generous supply of LE trade-ins, primarily of the Glockish variety. Unless you are LE, military, or a first responder type person, you cannot buy a NEW Glock at GT(one exception for GSSF members); BUT you may purchase a trade-in OR many other firearms.
GT Distributors - America's Law Enforcement supply specialist

As big boxes go, Academy has a decent selection of handguns at reasonable prices. Plenty of independent gun shops around town as well. Red's has two locations if you need an indoor range to try out some weaponry.

Yes, you may ride your motorcycle without a helmet BUT with a motorcycle license.

Yes, you may carry your handgun to/in your vehicle; but if you are going to wear said handgun, you'll need a Concealed Handgun License.

Yep.
Good prices too.

[TCBTEX]

Florinator - out of curiosity - what was the ballpark value of your Cali residence that generated the $7,250 in property tax in relation to the value of your new Austin home with the $4,400.00?